Medium body with a fluffy moutfeel, champagne like carbonation. Very rich and substantional flavor. Very interesting and unique. Very savory slightly peppery. Dark booze soaked fruits, soft caramel, a rich mineral like quality to the mouthfeel, a bit of booze, and slightly medicinal. Barely any alcohol heat. Very smooth and clean.

This beer is very good but begs to be paired with rich flavored foods. On it's own I probably wouldn't enjoy it but luckily i have some nice turkey stuffing and gravy to go with it. Very concise flavors, super complex, but in order for them all to work, this beer needs food.

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Appearance  The head came right out of the bottle. It poured a beautiful, fine, tan white. The body is an extremely dark brown, cloudy and carbonated.

Smell  This opened up wonderfully in my Chimay glass. The deep yeast aroma is laden with dark fruits and sugars. I can almost taste the dates, figs, overly ripe apricots, and brown sugar. Im tasting this with a Lebanese dish I just made that involves making bread, so the kitchen is filled with a wonderful aroma of yeast, bread, and fruit.

Taste  This is terrific. The classic flavors come out in force here. This is a very thick blend of toasted malts and bready yeast. The fruits are bigger at the tongue. The figs and dates are huge! The sugar is present as well, making this an extremely well-rounded ale.

Mouthfeel  This is full in the mouth. Youll want to eat this one with a fork. Theres a small sting of alcohol, which is amazing for an ale with a 10.0 ABV. The carbonation is big and top notch.

Drinkability  I had to drink this exceptional ale while making disgusting, sour faces so that my wife would think that it was horrible. No, seriously, this is a fine example of the style and well worth the ten bucks or so that I paid for it.

Comments  This is the 2002 Edition and is a seasonal winter ale, so its been sitting for almost a year. It tastes just right, so maybe this is something to age off the shelf. Either way, this is awesome and would make a great Christmas gift.

Update  I first reviewed this in 2003 with a year-old bottle, so thought Id revisit this classed in 2005 with an 04 vintage.

The beer is wonderfully balanced and extremely complex. The curacao that they use in the brewing process ads a particularly inviting dimension to the ale. The fine Belgian yeast stands out in my mind as exceptional, and I really enjoy the way that the sweetness moves in and out of the flavor profile. This is an incredible beer!

Appearance – The beer is served a cherry/chestnut red color with a light amount of haze. Upon serving there is a tiny just off white head that fades quite fast. Once the head fades, it leaves a great level of streaky lace on the sides of the glass.

Smell – The aroma of the beer is light overall, but heaviest of darker fruit smells with aromas of cherry, plum, and fig. Along with these smells are some more Belgian yeast aromas with a yeast cake, banana, and spice smell consisting of coriander and clove . Along with some lighter nutmeg spice and a bit of a doughy smell, the overall aroma is fruity and inviting.

Taste – The taste begins with tons of sweet darker fruits that the nose hinted too, with tons of cherry and plum with a good level of fig to boot. These flavors create a strong base for the brew and persist throughout the whole of the taste. Quickly following the initial fruity taste, comes a moderate level of a yeast flavor. Mixed with these flavors are some spice tastes as well as a bit of an orange and orange peel flavor. Coriander and clove are the initial spice flavors detected, but are later joined by some flavors of nutmeg, cinnamon, and a bit of allspice. While at 10 % abv,, only the tracest level of an alcohol taste comes to the tongue at the very end, and with the rest of the flavors, leaves a very pleasant fruity and more subtly, but nicely balanced spice flavor to linger on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the thinner side for a brew of 10 % abv. with a carbonation level that is on the average side. The thinner body in conjunction with the barely detectable alcohol level make this one almost too dangerously easy to drink. While this may be so, the body and carbonation are very nice for the big dark fruit and moderate spice flavors and create a very nice drinking brew.

Overall – This one was a very enjoyable and dangerously good and easy to drink Belgian dark winter ale. Very tasty.

Poured into a tulip glass a slightly hazy russet brown with a huge blooming light brown head that sticks like glue as it slowly settles.Very spicey aromas like that of cinnamon and nutmeg with a touch of orange and prune underneath.The orange peel in this brew show on the palate along with some phenolic yeasty spiciness and raisin but its not overly sweet,somewhat breasy mouthfeel compliments the flavors nicely.Its a beer that goes down easy but not overly big flavor wise but solid none the less.

Aromas of spicy yeast, bitter orange, ginger, caramel, raisin, something fruity in there that kind of reminds me of bubblegum.

Medium-full bodied with raisin and sweet malt mingling with the spicy yeast. There's an herbal note, nutmeg, and a sweet watermelon fruitiness. Has an alcohol presence but not really the taste and becomes creamy and really smooth when it opens up. Not bad at all, but it almost overwhelms in much quantity.

A - Nut brown, huge light tan head, lots of carbonation keep the head around for awhile, and lots of lacing.

S - Yeast, spice, and some caramel malt with hints of dark fruit.

T - Malt throughout, from beginning to end. Starts with a bit of lingering sweetness from some sugars that were not broken down. A nice spiciness then comes on along with some yeast. The spice is then complimented with some alcohol notes as you finish the sip.

M - Is it possible for a beer to have a complex mouthfeel? Perhaps not, but this beer does have a lot going on, moderate body, definitely some undigested sugars in there, a nice tingle from the carbonation, warming from the alcohol.

O - This is a nice Belgian Dark Strong, I thought it may be a bit too spicy but I didn't feel that was the case, just a nice complex flavor profile. A worthy limited edition from Brasserie d'Achouffe.

Bought this at Tully's; hadn't seen it there before. The bottle said Limited Edition 2005. An extraordinary , complex beer. It was a medium brown color with a coffee-colored head and some nice lacing. It had a distinct spicy odor, very warm, almost like a red pepper. Tasting was a revelation. It was sweet, orange, spices, some malt, and a nice warm aftertaste. A little bubbly for my taste. The alcohol is not noticeable at first, but it certainly sneaks up on you. Be careful with it.

It came with a finger width of creamy, white head which dissipated after several minutes. This smelled great, spicy, fruity and malty. For such a high alcohol content there was very little alcohol smell.

N'ice Chouffe tasted better than it smelled. The flavor was sweet, malty and spicy with a little kick of alcohol. It is very pleasant tasting. The mouthfeel is rather smooth and full-bodied. This reminded me of a good wine.

I could certainly drink this all night. I wonder if the bottled version is this good?

Just found a bottle with a vintage date of 1996 on neck of the bottle. Dane from B. United told me a while ago to open it soon because it loses carbonation. He was right, now it has no carbonation at all. A shame really because this would have been a beer of greatness if it had only held on the carbonation. Goes down like a tawny port with fruity aromas and flavours of currants and cherries. Creamy mouth feel glides over the tongue, alcohol is warming but has mellowed for sure but still with a touch of peppery spice. Oddly there is barely any oxidation from the 6+ years of aging.

2004 edition, capped not corked. Served into a chalice at cellar temperature, this pours a ruby mahogany body with tremendous carbonation action in the form of a horde of tiny bubbles in full flourish. The head is beige in color, and creamy in texture. Excellent retention, and exquisite sheet lacing drapes the chalice. Very tempting aroma features an orgy of overripe bananas, dates, apricots, and orangepeel, enhanced by spicy coriander, orangezest, thyme, and white pepper. Burnt candy sugar aromas add to the attraction. Mouthfeel is excellent, with effervescent carbonation as per style, and a smooth and creamy medium body that has both a spice and alcohol bite. Taste has the character of an orange liqueur, spiced with thyme and clove, and blended with pureed prunes and raisins. Lots of dark fruits stewed in rum, thrown into the middle. Toward the finish, it gains some dry and bitter hop and yeast character, as if some juniper flavored, Dutch Jenever was added to the mix. Very warming alcohol notes are in the dry aftertaste. An excellent Belgian winter strong dark ale. i enjoyed this one while watching a snow storm arrive on a cold winter eve and morn.

Large green bottle, etching tells me its best to consume this necter before 2009...woohoo 3 yrs to go...Pours dark plum amber, semi hazy with a large tan head, initially rocky then melting to a thick film and leaving classic and extensive lacing. Nose of fruits, musty malt and yeasty Belgian goodness. Tasty, strong brew, notes of alcohol, cola, Belgian yeast, dark rum, sweet cookie tastyness. Classic strong brew, get some of this Chouffyliciousness and enjoy...

Great brew. A fine dark ale with a delightful hint of spices, and herbal hops. Surprisingly dry to the finish. Definitely a holiday feel to this - there is a subtle hint of banana and clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. Nice body, strong carbonation.

Very strong brew from D'Achouffe- would love to have this on hand during the holidays!

Cloudy brown with a thick off-white head. Raisins, grapes, and spice make up the aroma. Light but creamy mouthfeel. Sweet wine, banana, spice, and caramel malt dominate the palate. Orange peel, hops, and alcohol bring up the rear and stay with you. Good balance, good beer.

Poured from a corked and caged 750ml bottle into a Fin Du Monde tulip glass. Moderate pour yields a three finger head that crashes back to the surface fairly quickly. Lace is spotty at best. Color is a dark cloudy brown.

Nose- Light nuttiness, woodsy, little bit of orange.

Palate- Lightly sweet, very actively carbonated. Some nuttiness, orange peel. Hot! Some herbal elements of gin. Finishes very dry Curacao is to much for me.